Online education is booming. We all know the now obvious benefits that are advertised at every institution that offers online education. It is convenient and cost effective. It can now usually be accessed at any time and place. Websites promoting or informing potential students about online education have told us of the comfort of learning at your own pace and location. However, here are 25 surprising facts that most people may not know about online education.

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Distance education is big! And is growing. In contrast to a still common notion, online higher learning is not limited to a certain type of student. Distance education is used by students of all walks of life in almost every field of study. Because of its rapid growth, universities and colleges now focus more upon distance education and placing resources in online education presentation and development. This means that distance education students get schooling and training that are tailored for the needs and traits of the online learning environment and community.

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There are many reasons to study online. Common reasons are convenience and accessibility, scheduling flexibility and accelerated courses. Theseallow students to move more quickly through their studies than they could in the more common brick and mortar institutions. Distance education gives students the chance to continue in their careers and personal duties while earning their degrees. On the other hand, there are other good, though not so clear, and even surprising reasons for learning online.

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A common error about distance education is that it is more geared towards and a better fit for students who arent able to attend traditional classes. This can be because of age and the changes in state of life, work responsibilities and other similar reasons that college would create. But, the most recent data shows that distance learning is highly diverse. There is a large number of students of all ages who are working in an online program or in online courses. Online learning appeals to students of all ages because it gives the convenience, pacing and flexibility theyre looking for. According to the most recent studies:

When this data is further boiled down, the picture shifts to show that although distance learning is not exclusive to the 24+ age brackets, older students tend to study in distance learning programs at a higher rate than younger students:

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Many reasons are offered for the percentages of male and female students enrolled in distance education. The most recent data shows that more women than men enroll in online course and/or degree programs. Among undergraduate students the ratio between women and men is more even. In online graduate studies the number of female over male students is greater. Without trying to provide the many reasons why this is the case, here are the facts:

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Online studies are very racially and/or ethnically diverse. The National Center for Education Statistics provides the following breakdown of percentages of students in terms of their ethnic background:

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On account of the freedom and flexibility online schooling offers, studies find that students enrolled in online courses and degree programs vary widely from part-time students seeking to complete a degree, to students looking to advance their careers through more training and education, to full-time students, seeking to earn an undergraduate or graduate degrees. Heres the mix:

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Online colleges offer many more programs in a wider range of fields than you might expect. Students just like you are putting to very good use these great learning options.If a person thought that online college learning offers only a very small number of courses that relate to only a few basic areas of study, he or she would be in for a surprise at the vast and growing number of online courses, certificate and degree options. Hundreds, if not thousands, of online colleges courses in dozens of fields are now are open to distance learners. From business to computer science to education, engineering, health and sciences, to technical and vocational training, distance education has the power fill most any educational need. Online undergraduate and graduate students divide into the following groups of study:

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This may seem counter intuitive. Surely, online education makes living the life of both student and employee much more manageable. Truth be told, the majority of online college students dont seem to have jobs outside of their studies. The level of students with outside jobs becomes much higher among online graduate students as compared with their undergraduate counterparts.

For those whose entire degree is online the degree of employment for both undergraduates and graduate students goes down. At the same time the gap between employed graduate students versus undergraduates grows larger.

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It is true that most of the people who receive an online education are out of their parents homes. But, it may come as a surprise that there is a large percentage of undergraduates taking online courses and earning online degrees under their parents or guardians roofs. Independent undergraduate students are very attracted to online education as well, and the largest groups of independent undergrads have dependents of their own. Online graduate studies are almost pursued independents. The largest group that the option for online education assists is that of unmarried independent students who have their own dependents. The dependency status for distance education students reveals some surprising facts about the kinds of students online education is most serving.

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What online institutions attract the most students? Online education has created a space for both the establishment and rapid growth of private, for-profit distance education schools and degree programs. Public and private, non-profit online options are very popular in their own right. It may be a surprise to some that for-profit distance education programs receive the highest number of both undergraduate and graduate students. In undergraduate distance learning, for-profit online schools, according to the latest statistics, has a healthy lead over public and private non-profit avenues of distance education. In graduate studies the gap between for-profit and public or private non-profit school significantly increases.

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For some jobs, whether or not a degree is earned through a private, for-profit online school or a non-profit online school is a key factor for judging who is the most likely best hire.Its important to know how likely employers in your field of study and future work view this question. Some jobs tend to favor online degrees and training from non-profit schools over the same degrees from for-profit schools. Before you enroll in courses or a degree program, do some looking around among possible future employers to see if they have a preference one way or the other. This could mean the difference between getting a return call on your job application or not!

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Undergraduate students with disabilities are more likely to enroll in distance education.The most recent information on this topic is from the 2007-8 academic year. What this data reveals is that students with disabilities lasting 6 or more months such as impaired mobility, sensory disability as well as disabilities in learning, remembering and fulfilling other educational needs enroll in some form of distance learning at a higher rate than do students who do not report any disabilities. Sensory disability refers to conditions such blindness and deafness. Disability in learning can be caused by psychological, emotional or learning impairments that can affect a students ability to be successful in traditional college settings.

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This may come as a surprise to many, but the U.S. Department of Education reports that students completing online courses perform slightly better then their traditionally educated counterparts. A recent study conducted by the Department of Education found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. Other studies argue that online students are more likely to drop out of courses than traditional students. However, if you have the motivation and discipline for online learning, youll be in the company of high achieving distance learners!

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Although online schooling may seem to remove any reason for choosing to study through a school in ones home state, more students choose to study online through schools in their home states. In 2014 there were a total 2.66 million students enrolled in online college courses and/or programs:

The majority of in-state online students pursue their studies through public, non-profit institutions. Federal and local financial aid and scholarships are likely a strong influence for these students.

When one looks at private distance learning options the proportion between in and out-of-state institutions is reversed. Private for-profit schools are the schools of choice for students who look beyond their home state for a distance education. Of the 1.12 million students taking classes online classes through out-of-state programs:

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Through advances in technology and communications, a college education through distance education is a global possibility. The advent of online education makes it possible for students who are outside the USA to receive advanced training and earn college degrees without having to leave their native countries. Online education is booming in poorer countries, which promises to raise the economic and social conditions in these countries.

The 2016Distance Education: Statewide, Institutional, and International Applications provides massive documentation on the rapid growth of international participation in US-based as well as non-American online colleges and universities by international students throughout the world.

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Distance education is defined by the National Center for Education Statistics as: any online class or degree program conducted entirely online [source]. Many online schools and degree programs participate in the Federal Financial Aid program, and are thereby able to offer distance learning students access to federal loans and grants just like on-site colleges and universities. If you are looking to receive financial aid be sure to check your schools financial aid page to determine if your school participates. This website has more information on financial aid.

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A common assumption is that online education costs are less than their traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts. This is often true. However, the savvy student will want to make sure his or her distance education choice is actually the best deal. Its important to look around a bit and compare costs. Often one will find that schools will have different tuition amounts for in-state and out-of-state online students. Also, online courses will have per course fees that bump the online costs above the on-site costs for the same courses. Its always good to double check when it comes to cost.

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Even with its rapid growth, development and expansion as well as the new opportunities it creates for students to receive college instruction, many college and university professors remain wary and unconvinced about distance education.U.S. News & World Report notes that, according to a recent surveys, Only 30.2 percent of officials surveyed said their faculty members accept the value and legitimacy of online education. The same article makes the point that online education at the college level continues to grow, and A lack of faculty support is [an] obstacle schools must overcome. The take away from this is that the distance education student should make sure to be aware that not every professor in online education will believe in distance education as much as the student does. And, students should gravitate towards enthusiastic professors and institutions that give their full backing to their distance education programs.

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However, watch out for common pitfalls in making online college choices. To make your hard-earned online degree or training most attractive be sure to check into the following key areas and be sure to be able to explain your reasons for making the choice to study online. Employers really do look at these issues and questions about your own personal motivations do arise in the course of job interviews.

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Student support services are important!Some might think of the online learner as a kind of academic Lone Ranger. Dont make this mistake. Distance education has its own learning curve and requires students to acclimatize to the distance education environment. There will be technical and technological factors that will need to be in order as well as time scheduling and course participation techniques that will need to be quickly mastered if the online student is to thrive and be successful. When considering which college or program to enroll in, always be sure to inquire into that schools online support philosophy and level of commitment. High quality distance education will normally have a staff of trained specialists in online student support that can address any number of student questions from the best technologies and applications to how to more easily get in touch with instructors and classmates. Good online instructors will often have in their course materials a resource guide on how to be successful online students as well.

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This fact may not be all that surprising or earth-shaking to many readers. However, as weve already hinted at earlier, there are common misconceptions about online education. Online programs and courses are not one size fits all. Its important not only to find a good online school, its just as important to enroll in the right classes. Options abound in online education, so theres no reason to rush into programs and classes that dont fit your needs and aspirations. Give yourself time to do the needed research and explore your options, so that youll land in the best programs and coursesfor YOU! The following are some key areas to explore when considering distance learning. Normally admissions counselors should be able to address many of the following areas:

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New technologies, more students in college and growing demand for online instruction are coming together in a way that suggests that the future of higher education is digital and distance. What began as small, often for-profit, ventures in online learning now sees big name schools in the act. According to one recent study, the massive developments and movement towards a more digital educational experience has met with approval from college students. Experts predict that as the number of those studying in college continues to grow and diversify the student population, well see greater numbers enrolled in distance learning. There is a also potential darker side to online education as well. As demand increases and technology develops, companies will want to get a piece of the action by promoting their goods and services. This is part of the inevitable mix of money and education. However, the best schools and programs will not forget that their first priority is providing the best possible online education for their students.

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Distance education is delivered in a number of ways, and the virtual classroom experience can vary widely, depending upon institutional and program standards as well as each professors approach to online teaching and student interaction. In looking at various online options its helpful to have an idea of the basic ways in which distance education courses are most commonly delivered. Knowing the mode of a program or courses delivery will help you make an informed decision about the kind of commitments and responsibilities that will be required:

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Most distance learners will not have constant or easy access to standard resources available to traditional students through their institutions. Online students will need to invest a bit more in technology and hardware if they want to flourish in online education. Some of the most common items that will greatly assist distance learners, beyond a good computer, are:

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It may surprise you to learn that many places offer online courses thatanyone can take. This universal access to online courses and programs is called open learning or open and distance learning (ODL). The name means just what it says. Any interested person, regardless of prior education, background or financial status can participate in the benefits of the course offered. In addition to distance education options with academic prerequisites and tuition costs, open learning options are available. Often these courses can be used for credit in degree programs as well. Take the time to explore ODL courses in addition to the more standard distance education models. You may just find what youre looking for.

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25 Surprising Or Little Known Facts About Online Education

HistoryThrough a $1.9 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund in 2012, Denver was chosen as one of five U.S. cities to replicate New York Citys evidence-based Financial Empowerment Center model. The model provides free, one-on-one financial counseling by trained professionals to low-income residents both at new local Financial Empowerment Centers and by integrating counseling into the delivery of municipal services.

mpowered leads the provision of direct financial coaching services to the community through the effort, which launched to the public in spring of 2013. In Partnership with the Denver Office of Financial Empowerment, mpowered manages and supports the implementation of the Financial Empowerment Center model.

Why Denver?As a growing City, poverty in Denver is sometimes hidden, but approximately 21% of the citys 600,000 residents live below the federal poverty level and many more live below a level of true self-sufficiency. 36,000 families are estimated to be functioning outside the financial mainstream, with many using high cost financial services in place of conventional banking. 188,000 residents (31% of the population) rely on federal assistance programs through the Department of Human Services. Others turn to nonprofit providers to help meet basic needs.

Financial counseling and financial literacy efforts, particularly when delivered in concert with additional stabilization services, can be strong tools to move families out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency.

Financial Empowerment CentersOpened on March 12, 2013, Denvers network of Financial Empowerment Centers offers free, unbiased, one-on-one, professional financial counseling in English and Spanish. The Centers are designed to help clients:Take control of their debtDeal with debt collectorsImprove their creditBuild savingsCreate a budgetFind safe and affordable financial productsAnd other services based on client needs

As a result of partnerships with various City of Denver agencies and other direct human service nonprofit organizations, the Centers are co-located to provide easy access for clients in need.

Goals

a program of partnering with

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The BCA Sales Academy is designed to be the place where entrepreneurs, business executives, and sales personnel at any level can gain solutions to sales problems that they have encountered but have not been able to solve before! In short, their own particular set of Unsolvable Sales Problems. Learn more

BCA Management delivers sales training and development services in New York that enable our clients to achieve real and lasting results.

After partnering with BCA Management, firms large and small throughout New York have learned how to consistently expand their sales, build client relationships, and regularly win against the competition!

We will teach you:

Contact BCA Management online or call (646) 786-8800 for a free sales training and development consultation.

Howard Berman is the Founder and CEO of Berman Consulting Associates. BCAs mission is improving overall corporate performance, with a focus on dramatically building sales management skills and the productivity of their sales teams. Mr. Berman has been a sales and marketing professional for over 40 years, during which time he has been responsible for the recruitment, training, and development of many hundreds of successful sales personnel. Along the way he has codified The 29 Natural Laws of Sales and The 22 Natural Laws of Sales Management respectively, and is the author of an upcoming book on these subjects

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Sales Training in New York - Berman Consulting Associates

If talent acquisition, development, and retention are top-of-mind for you as a sales leader, here are 40+ of the best sales training programs to check out!

High performers deliver as much as eight times the output of their peers, according to McKinsey. No wonder recruiters go ballistic trying to outdo each other in attracting the best professionals to create value for their companies.

After all, its a no-brainer that making do with average performers pins your brand smack at the center of irrelevance. Only a team of superb talent can move your business ahead of the competition.

The same calculus especially applies the sales team. Let loose a band of inexperienced, untrained, and desperate salespeople on the sales floor and you open up the floodgates of failure. In contrast, unleash a team of smart sales reps and success pours like rain.

And that is why training has become not only a competitive advantage but the primary driver of corporate excellence.

Data abound and offer solid proof:

Demand for sales development training will intensify as more and more companies opt to strengthen lead qualification.

Clearly, training will be a game changer for sales organizations in the years ahead. But choosing the best one for your team can be a tough nut to crack.

To make it easier for you, weve created a (not-so) shortlist of training companies that have been generating buzz across the industry. More importantly, theyre also generating significant value for the learners and companies who take their training programs.

Founded in 1990, Action Selling provides a broad range of training resources to hundreds of thousands of sales professionals.

The company was among the first in the industry to incorporate big data into its learning infrastructure, focusing on critical selling skills and the best ways to reinforce these proficiencies.

Advantage Performance Group connects with a three-pronged market: corporate leaders, sellers, and businesses.

The companys products and services align with these audiences. For sales reps, Advantage provides learning experiences for every role on diverse topics such as sales negotiation, customer empathy, task prioritization, emotional intelligence, and B2B sales acceleration. Advantage is part of the BTS Group.

Driving your sellers to change behavior and lift performance is never easy. Good thing Altify mastered the process, offering a proprietary and proven approach for full sales team transformation.

Altify builds the matching enterprise support and trains everyone on the team how to maximize the benefits of an improved sales effectiveness.

Need a sales team for a startup or a rapidly growing business? AltiSales specializes in helping businesses design, improve, and scale top-notch sales organizations.

AltiSales can build a team from scratch, add highly skilled talent to your existing team, or partner with you to train your sales team for optimal performance.

With customers gaining control of the sales process, salespeople need to adapt and grow opportunities through empathy and authenticity.

Incidentally, these are the crucial areas Ariel focuses on. The training firm provides holistic solutions that blend technology and experiential learning. Programs include

ASLAN promises to hyper-customize its training solutions for each organization and learner.

The companys training solutions aim to transform sellers into sales professionals who can orchestrate the desired outcomes for both buyers and vendors. Among other offerings, there are robust training programs for inside sales, field sales, telesales, and sales coaching for managers.

Brian Tracy is among the most widely quoted sales guru on the planet.

Aside from writing books and delivering keynote speeches, the bestselling author also offers training programs designed to help you learn how to walk the talk. One of the more notable training programs in his library include 21st Century Sales Training for Elite Performance.

Its a three-month virtual course that teaches you how to win every stage of the selling process: from B2B sales prospecting to renewals.

Focusing on the human side of selling, BTS is a global community of more than 600 all-star performers in six continents from the field of sales, business, education, sports, and real life.

BTS focuses on strategy execution and promises to help your business get things done through innovative training, immersive experiences, and needle-moving results.

Their BTS Sales Practice solution trains professionals in skills such as negotiation, account strategy development, value communication, and customer empathy.

Carew International provides end-to-end support in sales training, leadership development, and customer service.

Precisely aligned with each specific customers sales goals, Carews top-tier training programs go beyond information transfer to an organization-wide behavioral change. Some of the courses offered include:

Formed in 1926, the Cegos Group helped pioneer the modern skills development industry and currently trains 250,000 people annually in 50 countries.

A leading driver in learning innovation, the training giant supports organizations in implementing their growth and transformation strategies.

Their E-Learning and In-House training solutions provide skills development in areas such as:

Promising high performance through cultural and behavioral transformation, Cohen Brown provides specialized consulting and training services.

The companys courseware and solutions are used in more than 50 countries and have been translated in 15 languages. Courses include:

Corporate Visions provides innovative selling solutions that match the changing dynamics of business and buyer experience. The companys solutions will help your team Create, Elevate, Capture, and Expand value at every stage of the selling cycle from lead generation to customer success.

Through skills training, your people will gain the ability to keep pipelines full and flowing, build winning proposals, and improve deal profitability and lifetime value.

Taking a company name that clearly articulates its core value, CustomerCentric Selling (CRC) designs sales courses and provides training workshops based on a buyer-driven sales dynamic.

The companys three-and-a-half day instructor-led training workshops can be customized for the needs of each specific team or organization. Skills targeted include:

Known for its simple yet impactful training approach, DoubleDigit Sales partners with organizations to customize effective training solutions.

Some of its courseware include:

DSG collaborates with businesses to design practical, tailored, and effective playbooks in the areas of strategy, messaging, process, and coaching.

These playbooks can then serve as the core training assets businesses deploy to drive learning and mastery of its messaging techniques for:

Factor 8 is sales training built by sales leaders. Curriculum focuses on how to book appointments, add value, land and expand new business and none of it with the luxury of a face to face appointment or lots of time and attention from decision makers.

As soon as reps learn new tactics, they hit the phones to try, coach, win & repeat. Most training days have higher activity and results than regular sales days. Then Factor 8 trains your managers how to coach and keep the skills alive and grants the entire team access to The Sales Bar ongoing training, scripts, audio samples, and coaching guides to keep skills improving after training.

Serving clients in more than 150 countries and 30 languages, FranklinCoveys Sales Performance solutions can be delivered in many formats, including:

Skills and topics covered include boot camps for sales leaders, customer success, lead qualification, and deal closing.

GP Strategies was founded in 1966 to provide best-in-class performance improvement solutions across 16 industries around the world.

Its eLearning, technical, and sales training solutions aim to transform people and processes to deliver efficient and maximum performance.

Fully scalable, GP Strategies skills training programs can be easily integrated into your specific industry, business model, sales culture, process, strategy, and branding.

Impartas training content has been translated into more than 30 languages and delivered to ambitious sales teams across all industries in more than 60 countries. Its clientele includes some of the best known brands on the planet such as Intel, Telefonica, Canon, and the WPP Group.

Impartas sales training solutions are modular and highly customizable to match each organizations selling environment, challenges, and needs.

You can choose a single hyper-specific course such as consultative selling skills or opt to build a comprehensive learning infrastructure such as your very own Sales Academy.

IMPAX helps B2B companies achieve high performance and drive growth by providing a full stack of training and consulting solutions. With more than three decades of servicing clients, IMPAX deliver its learning programs via onsite workshops, public seminars, and self-paced online courses.

Its sales skills programs cover various areas such as:

As its name implies, Integrity Solutions goes beyond merely building skills to transforming the behavior and mindset of sales professionals into their utmost best.

The consulting firm partners with clients in filling the pipeline, retaining existing customers, and growing revenues by helping businesses deliver meaningful and authentic value to their customers.

Janek provides sales training and consulting services designed to elevate team performance, orchestrate measurable outcomes, and deliver significant ROI for its clients.

In partnership with clients, the companys continuous learning and knowledge reinforcement solutions establish hyper-productive individual and organizational behavior.

John Barrows training programs help small startups and enterprise-scale companies drive rapid growth. Some of Johns clients include global brands such as Salesforce, GE, Tableau, LinkedIn, Box, and Forbes.

Learning programs come in three packages:

Training modules are available for both teams and individuals.

Serving clients in five continents and across 200 sectors, Kurlan & Associates provides tailored training solutions that follow three simple steps:

Among the firms more popular learning programs, Live Online Sales Training is a 12-week course that teaches sellers how to have better conversations and close higher-value deals.

Mandel Communications enables people to deliver high performance by providing focused training on the different aspects, uses, and impacts of communication.

The idea behind Mandels award-winning approach is simple:

Mercuri International provides innovative training solutions and impactful learning experiences to countless individuals and around 15,000 organizations in 50 countries and in 30 languages.

In building tailored learning solutions for its client, Mercuri follows a five-step method: Analyze, Design, Train, Change, Consolidate. The company offers blended learning and impact training on a broad range of areas and selling skills.

Miller Heiman is a global organization serving individuals and organizations around the world with game-changing technology and a broad range of training courses.

The Miller Heiman Group Academy offers the companys top-notch signature courses:

New Velocity is a comprehensive sales training platform that provides ongoing, online, and onsite learning experiences.

The companys curriculum centers on four sales pillars:

New Velocity caters to businesses of any size from small startups to global leaders such as Google, SAS, and Oracle.

This award-winning training provider offers a proprietary approach to achieving selling success.

Serving hundreds of thousands sales professionals in more than 70 countries, RAIN Group designs training programs not only to build skills but to drive behavioral change.

The company partners with clients to uncover opportunities, accelerate processes, and engineer growth. RAIN Groups learning library provides a comprehensive range of courseware for every stage in the selling cycle.

Using a holistic, science-backed approach, Revenue Storm provides training, coaching, and consulting services that are designed to transform your team.

The company aims to wean businesses from being too dependent on buyer-initiated purchases, and to enable them to proactively create demand. Revenue Storm partners with clients to build tailored learning, tracking, and coaching solutions.

Richardson partners with some of the best known global brands to identify and understand the specific selling skills and behaviors needed to deliver the best sales outcomes.

Now that they know the secret sauce to selling success, theyve built a robust and impactful learning curriculum designed to reinforce those skills and behaviors in aspiring sales professionals.

Designed to equip learners for the next levels of excellence, all training programs can be customized and fine-tuned for each unique organization and seller.

Sales Hacker develops, curates, and partners with industry leaders to provide actionable learning resources and organize ground-breaking events for B2B sellers.

Known for hosting next-gen, market-moving conferences, Sales Hacker also publishes thought leadership content.

SPI helps businesses achieve dramatic growth by enabling sales teams with the tools, tactics, and training they need to sustain excellence.

The company implements flexible instructor-led learning and a performance development platform to transform seller behavior. More than a million professionals and 600 global clients in 50 countries have used SPIs training solutions.

SRG enables individuals and organizations to achieve optimum sales performance using customized skills development programs.

Some of the companys courseware include programs for improving:

With more than five industry-blazing decades already under its belt, Sandler Training continues to provide innovative insight into the world of selling excellence.

The companys learning methodology pioneered the concept of reinforcement training which remains a crucial component of the most effective sales training programs on the market.

A steady stream of fresh content and actionable courseware make the Sandler Training library one of the most popular destinations among sales practitioners.

The Sandler Selling System is embraced by B2B organizations of any size from small companies to Fortune 500 enterprises.

The Brooks Group designs and delivers award-winning sales training courseware for B2B professionals.

Formed in 1977, the company is known for introducing IMPACT Selling, a results-driven selling approach based on decades-long research and validation.

The six-step process has been taught in more than 350 industries. The IMPACT Sales Team Training workshop can be delivered onsite, online, or both.

Founded amid dramatic shifts in the buying process, The Harris Consulting Group delivers skills training and tailored learning experiences that help sales teams grow their revenue.

The company partners with clients to assess unique situations and build matching and scalable sales training solutions for unique needs. Tracing its roots in the SaaS B2B sector, Harris Consulting focuses on:

Clients include small businesses, mid-market companies, and enterprise-scale corporations.

Because there is no one secret to sales success, Tyson Group believes that achieving high performance and sustainable growth through team training involves a four-step process:

And that is exactly what Tyson Group does best:

Value Selling Associates is the highly acclaimed and multi-awarded sales training provider which created the ValueSelling Framework. This is a sales acceleration formula used by startups, mid-sized businesses, and Fortune 1000 corporations.

At the core of the framework is the idea that selling on value instead of price actually works. The ValueSelling training program blends:

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Brian Leiter defends a set of radical ideas from Nietzsche: there is no objectively true morality, there is no free will, no one is ever morally responsible, and our conscious thoughts and reasoning play almost no significant role in our actions and how our lives unfold. Leiter presents a new interpretation of main themes of Nietzsche's moral psychology, including his anti-realism about value (including epistemic value), his account of moral judgment and its relationship to the emotions, his conception of the will and agency, his scepticism about free will and moral responsibility, his epiphenomenalism about certain kinds of conscious mental states, and his views about the heritability of psychological traits. In combining exegesis with argument, Leiter engages the views of philosophers like Harry Frankfurt, T. M. Scanlon, and Gary Watson, and psychologists including Daniel Wegner, Benjamin Libet, and Stanley Milgram. Nietzsche emerges not simply as a museum piece from the history of ideas, but as a philosopher and psychologist who exceeds David Hume for insight into human nature and the human mind, repeatedly anticipates later developments in empirical psychology, and continues to offer sophisticated and unsettling challenges to much conventional wisdom in both philosophy and psychology.

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Friedrich Nietzsche presented the world with a philosophy of life that called for a rigorous reevaluation of all values. His critical analysis of Western civilization resulted in him drawing a crucial distinction between the slave morality of the masses and the master morality of those superior individuals who elevate human society through intellectual creativity. As a result, Nietzsches philosophy of overcoming emphasizes self-creation and the affirmation of life. Looking ever to the future, he envisioned the coming of a noble man who would assert his own will and create his own values without being limited by the false and outmoded values of the mediocre masses.

In sharp contrast, the great philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) had attempted to establish moral certainty through his concept of the categorical imperative; Act only on that maxim which you can will to be a universal law. In other words, when you are considering a course of action, ask What would happen if everyone did that? For Kant, moral judgments must be made independent of the particular circumstances, emotions and motives of the people involved. Thereby, he thought that moral certainty could be achieved in the area of human conduct. Ultimately, his ethical framework required a belief in free will, immortality of the human soul, and a personal God as the moral judge of human behaviour (of course, these are religious assumptions which the atheist Nietzsche would never have allowed in his own inquiry into values).

Furthermore, Kant made a crucial distinction between duty and inclination in order to separate the moral motive from all other motives. An act was only moral if you did it out of duty, regardless of your inclinations. Yet, it is not clear why a human being must always follow a pure moral intention, which would require one to sacrifice his or her own interests for the benefit of others or for the good of the whole. One may argue that Kant arrived at an empty intention in his compulsory appeal to the method of universalisation.

It seems to me, then, that Nietzsche was correct in his scepticism of traditional systematic philosophy. He was also right, surely, to oppose moral nihilism. In an inquiry into values, it is necessary to consider common sense as well as scientific argumentation. It is simply not possible to doubt everything, because this results in both the complete collapse of human conduct and psychological uncertainty. However, rigorous scepticism does throw doubt on metaphysical constructions that merely represent a persons wishes rather than reality itself.

One may ask: what kind of rational arguments can be raised for the negation of total nihilism and the use of practical scepticism? In my opinion, there are six points that should be taken seriously in making value judgments concerning human existence: (1) life is preferable to death; (2) freedom is an essential aspect of a subjective being; (3) value judgments must take into consideration human society; (4) compassion is a vital aspect for evaluating human conduct; (5) emotions are a necessary condition for happiness; and (6) happiness requires self-realisation on the basis of socially shared values and goals.

In summary, Friedrich Nietzsche was right to emphasize value inquiry. His critical insights into the human condition are invaluable for the development of a future ethics in terms of self-realisation grounded in the utilization of changing values and new goals. We are, unavoidably, creatures with values. For those who reject a supernatural basis for ethics, Nietzsche is essential to understanding our evaluating species.

Alexander V. Razin 2000

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Harper Torchbooks, 1964.Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Penguin, 1990.Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, CUP, 1999. Alexander V. Razin, Value Orientation and the Well-Being of Humanity in The Journal of Value Inquiry, 30: 113-124, June 1996.

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Nietzsche & Values | Issue 29 | Philosophy Now

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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (IPA:[nit], [niti]) (October 15, 1844 August 25, 1900) was a German philosopher, whose critiques of contemporary culture, religion, and philosophy centered around a basic question regarding the foundation of values and morality. Beyond the unique themes dealt with in his works, Nietzsche's powerful style and subtle approach are distinguishing features of his writings. Although largely overlooked during his short working life, which ended with a mental collapse at the age of 44, and frequently misunderstood and misrepresented thereafter, Nietzsche received recognition during the second half of the 20th century as a highly significant figure in modern philosophy. His influence was particularly noted throughout the 20th century by many existentialist, phenomenological and postmodern philosophers.

Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844, in the small town of Rcken, near Leipzig, within what was then the Prussian province of Saxony. His name comes from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, on whose 49th birthday Nietzsche was born. Nietzsche's parents were Carl Ludwig (1813-1849), a Lutheran pastor and former teacher, and Franziska (1826-1897). His sister, Elisabeth, was born in 1846, followed by his brother Ludwig Joseph in 1848. After the death of their father in 1849 and the young brother in 1850, the family moved to Naumburg, where they lived with Franziska's mother and Carl Ludwig's two unmarried sisters, and under the guardianship of a local magistrate, Bernhard Dchsel.

After the death of Franziska's mother in 1856, the family was able to afford their own house. During this time, the young Nietzsche attended a boys' school, where he felt isolated, and later a private school, where he became friends with Gustav Krug and Wilhelm Pinder, both of whom came from respected families. In 1854, he began to attend a Catholic preparatory school, but after demonstrating particular talents in music and language, he was admitted to the internationally recognized Schulpforta, where he continued his studies from 1858 to 1864. Here he became friends with Paul Deussen and Carl von Gersdorff. He also found time to work on poems and musical compositions. At Schulpforta, Nietzsche received an important introduction to literature, particularly in regard to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and also first experienced a distance from his family life in a small-town Christian environment.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1864.

After graduation, in 1864, Nietzsche commenced his studies in theology and classical philology at the University of Bonn. For a short time, with Deussen, he was a member of the brotherhood Frankonia, which he found uncomfortable. After one semester and to the anger of his mother, he stopped his studies in theology, and concentrated on philology, with Professor Friedrich Ritschl, whom he followed to the University of Leipzig the next year. There, he became close friends with fellow student Erwin Rohde. Nietzsche's first philological publications appeared soon after.

In 1865, Nietzsche became acquainted with the work of Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Albert Lange's History of Materialism in 1866. Both of these encounters were stimulating, encouraging him to no longer limit himself to philology and continue his schooling. In 1867, Nietzsche committed to one year of voluntary service with the Prussian artillery division in Naumburg. After a bad riding accident in March 1868, however, he revisited his philological studies while unfit for service. Later that year, Nietzsche completed the last year of studies, and had his first meeting with Richard Wagner.

Friedrich Nietzsche in Basel, ca. 1875.

Based on Ritschl's support, Nietzsche received the extraordinary offer to become professor of classical philology at the University of Basel before having completed his doctorate degree or certificate for teaching. Among his philological work there, he discovered that the ancient poetic meter related only to the length of syllables, different from the modern, accentuating meter.

In accordance with his own wish, after moving to Basel, Nietzsche renounced his Prussian citizenship, and was for the rest of his life, officially stateless. Nevertheless, he served on the Prussian side during the Franco-Prussian War as a medical orderly. His time in the military was short, but he experienced much, and witnessed the traumatic effects of battle. He also contracted diphtheria and dysentery.

On returning to Basel in 1870, Nietzsche observed the establishment of the German Empire and the following era of Otto von Bismarck as an outsider and with a degree of skepticism regarding its genuineness. At the University, he delivered his inaugural lecture, 'On Homer's Personality'. Also, Nietzsche met Franz Overbeck, a professor of theology, who remained his friend throughout his life. The other most influential colleague was historian Jacob Burckhardt, whose lectures Nietzsche frequently attended.

Already in 1868, Nietzsche had met Richard Wagner in Leipzig, and sometime later, his wife, Cosima. Nietzsche admired both greatly, and during his time at Basel was a frequent guest in Wagner's 'House of the Masters' in Tribschen. The Wagners brought Nietzsche into their closest circle, and enjoyed the attention he gave to the beginning of the Festival House in Bayreuth. In 1870, he gave Cosima Wagner the manuscript of 'The Genesis of the Tragic Idea' as a birthday gift.

In 1872, Nietzsche published his first book, The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music. However, the work, in which he forewent a precise philological method to employ a style of philosophical speculation, was not well received among his classical philological colleagues, including Ritschl. In a polemic, 'Future Philology', Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff dampened the book's reception and increased its notoriety. In response, Rohde, by now a professor in Kiel, and Wagner came to Nietzsche's defense. Nietzsche remarked freely about the isolation he felt within the philological community and attempted unsuccessfully to attain a position in philosophy at Basel.

Between 1873 and 1876, Nietzsche published separately four long essays: David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, Schopenhauer as Educator, and Richard Wagner in Bayreuth. (These four were later collected and published under the title, Untimely Meditations.) The four shared the orientation of a cultural critique, challenging the developing German culture along lines suggested by Schopenhauer and Wagner. Starting in 1873, he also accumulated notes that were posthumously published as Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks.

During this time, in the circle of the Wagners, Nietzsche met Malwida von Meysenbug and Hans von Blow, and also began a friendship with Paul Re, an influence for the pessimism in his early writings. However, his disappointment with the Bayreuth Festival of 1876, where he was repelled by the banality of the shows and the baseness of the public, caused him to finally distance himself from Wagner.

Most commentators agree that Nietzsche read Max Stirner, however they differ in respect to whether he was influenced by him. [1] At least one, philosopher Eduard von Hartmann, has accused him of plagiarizing Stirner.

With the publication of Human, All-Too-Human in 1878, a book of aphorisms on subjects ranging from metaphysics to morality and from religion to the sexes, Nietzsche's departure from the philosophy of Wagner and Schopenhauer became evident. Also, Nietzsche's friendship with Deussen and Rohde cooled. Nietzsche undertook more experiments, attempted to find a wife, and pursued Malwida von Meysenbug to no avail.

In 1879, after a significant decline in health, he was forced to resign his position. Since his childhood, Nietzsche had been plagued by various disruptive illnesses -- moments of shortsightedness practically to the degree of blindness, migraine headaches, and violent stomach attacks. These persistent conditions were perhaps aggravated by his riding accident in 1868 and diseases in 1870, and continued to affect him through his years at Basel, forcing him to take longer and longer holidays until regular work was no longer practicable.

Lou Salom, Paul Re and Nietzsche, 1882.

Driven by his illness to find more compatible climates, Nietzsche travelled frequently and lived until 1889 as a free author in different cities. He spent many summers in Sils Maria, near St. Moritz in Switzerland, and many winters in the Italian cities of Genoa, Rapallo, and Turin, and the French city of Nice. He occasionally returned to Naumburg to visit his family, and especially during this time, he and his sister had repeated periods of conflict and reconciliation. He lived on his pension from Basel, but also received aid from friends.

A past student of his, Peter Gast (born Heinrich Kselitz), became a private secretary. To the end of his life, Gast and Overbeck were consistently faithful friends. Malwida von Meysenbug remained like a motherly patron even outside the Wagner circle. Soon Nietzsche made contact with the music critic Carl Fuchs.

Nietzsche was at the beginning of his most productive period. Beginning with Human, All-Too-Human in 1878, Nietzsche would publish one book (or major section of a book) each year until 1888, his last year of writing, during which he completed five. In 1879, Nietzsche published Mixed Opinions and Maxims, which followed the aphoristic form of Human, All-Too-Human. The following year, he published The Wanderer and His Shadow. Both were published as the second part of Human, All-Too-Human with the second edition of the latter.

In 1881, Nietzsche published Daybreak: Reflections on Moral Prejudices, and in 1882, the first part of The Gay Science. That year he also met Lou Salom through Malwida von Meysenbug and Paul Re. Nietzsche and Salom spent the summer together in Tautenburg, often with Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth as chaperone. However, Nietzsche's regard for Salom was less as an equal partner than as a gifted student. He fell in love with her and pursued her despite their mutual friend Re. When he asked to marry her, Salom refused. Through various avenues of intrigue, Elisabeth broke up Nietzsche's relationship with Re and Salom in the winter of 1882-83. (Lou Salom eventually came to correspond with Sigmund Freud, introducing him to Nietzsche's thought.) In the face of renewed fits of illness, in near isolation after a falling out with his mother and sister regarding Salom, and plagued by suicidal thoughts, he fled to Rapallo, where in only ten days he wrote the first part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

After severing philosophical ties to Schopenhauer and social ties to Wagner, Nietzsche had few remaining friends. Now with the new style of Zarathustra, his work became even more alienating and was received only to the degree prescribed by politeness. Nietzsche recognized this and maintained his solitude, even though he often complained about it. He gave up his short-lived plan to become a poet in public, and was troubled by concerns about his publications. His books were as good as unsold. In 1885, he printed only 40 copies of the fourth part of Zarathustra, and only a fraction of these were distributed among close friends.

In 1886, he printed Beyond Good and Evil at his own expense. With this book and the appearance in 1886-87 of second editions of his earlier works (The Birth of Tragedy, Human, All-Too-Human, Daybreak, and The Gay Science), he saw his work completed for the time and hoped that soon a readership would develop. In fact, the interest in Nietzsche did arise at this time, if also rather slowly and hardly perceived by him.

During these years, Nietzsche's met Meta von Salis, Carl Spitteler, and also Gottfried Keller. In 1886, his sister Elisabeth married the anti-Semite Bernhard Frster and travelled to Paraguay to found a "Germanic" colony, a plan to which Nietzsche responded with laughter. Through correspondence, Nietzsche's relationship with Elisabeth continued on the path of conflict and reconciliation, but she would not see him again in person until after his collapse.

Nietzsche continued to have frequent and painful attacks of illness, which made prolonged work impossible. In 1887, Nietzsche quickly wrote the polemic On the Genealogy of Morals. He also exchanged letters with Hippolyte Taine, and then also with Georg Brandes, who at the beginning of 1888 delivered in Copenhagen the first lectures on Nietzsche's philosophy.

In the same year, Nietzsche wrote five books, based on his voluminous notes for the long-planned work, The Will to Power. His health seemed to be improving, and in the summer he was in high spirits. In the fall of 1888, his writings and letters began to reveal an overestimation of his status and 'fate'. He overestimated the increasing response to his writings, above all, for the recent polemic, The Case of Wagner.

On his 44th birthday, after completing The Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist, he decided to write the autobiography Ecce Homo, which presents itself to his readers in order that they, 'Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else.' (Preface, sec. 1, tr. Walter Kaufmann)

In December, Nietzsche began correspondence with August Strindberg, and thought that, short of an international breakthrough, he would attempt to buy back his older writings from the publisher and have them translated into other European languages. Moreover, he planned the publication of the compilation Nietzsche Contra Wagner and the poems Dionysian Dithyrambs.

On 3 January 1889, Nietzsche had a mental collapse. That day he had been approached by two Turinese policemen after making some sort of public disturbance in the streets of Turin. What actually happened is not known. The often-repeated (and apocryphal) tale is that Nietzsche saw a horse being whipped at the other end of the Piazza Carlo Alberto, ran to the horse, threw his arms up around the horses neck to protect it, and collapsed to the ground. In the following few days, he sent short writings to a number of friends, including Cosima Wagner and Jacob Burckhardt, which showed signs of a breakdown.

To his former colleague Burckhardt he wrote: 'I have had Caiphas put in fetters. Also, last year I was crucified by the German doctors in a very drawn-out manner. Wilhelm, Bismarck, and all anti-Semites abolished.' (The Portable Nietzsche, trans. Walter Kaufmann)

On January 6, 1889, Burckhardt showed the letter he received from Nietzsche to Overbeck. The following day Overbeck received a similarly revealing letter, and decided Nietzsche must be brought back to Basel. Overbeck traveled to Turin and brought Nietzsche to a psychiatric clinic in Basel.

By that time, Nietzsche was fully in the grip of insanity, and his mother Franziska decided to bring him to a clinic in Jena under the direction of Otto Binswanger. From November 1889 to February 1890, Julius Langbehn attempted to cure Nietzsche, claiming that the doctors' methods were ineffective to cure Nietzsche's condition. Langbehn assumed greater and greater control of Nietzsche until his secrecy discredited him. In March 1890, Franziska removed Nietzsche from the clinic, and in May 1890 to her home in Naumburg.

During this process, Overbeck and Gast contemplated what to do with Nietzsche's unpublished works. In January 1890 they proceeded with the planned release of The Twilight of the Idols, by that time already printed and bound. In February, they ordered a 50-copy private edition of Nietzsche Contra Wagner, but the publisher C. G. Naumann secretly printed 100. Overbeck and Gast decided to withhold publishing Antichrist and Ecce Homo due to their more radical content. Nietzsche's reception and recognition enjoyed their first surge.

In 1893, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth returned from Paraguay after the suicide of her husband. She read and studied Nietzsche's works, and piece by piece took control of them and their publication. Overbeck was eventually dismissed, and Gast finally cooperated. After the death of Franziska in 1897, Nietzsche lived in Weimar, where he was cared for by Elisabeth, who allowed people to visit the uncommunicative Nietzsche.

On August 25, 1900, Nietzsche died after contracting pneumonia. At the wish of Elisabeth, he was buried beside his father at the church in Rcken.

The cause of Nietzsche's breakdown has been the subject of speculation and remains uncertain. An early and frequent diagnosis was a syphilitic infection; however, some of Nietzsche's symptoms were inconsistent with typical cases of syphilis. Another diagnosis was a form of brain cancer. Others suggest that Nietzsche experienced a mystical awakening, similar to ones studied by Meher Baba. While most commentators regard Nietzsche's breakdown as irrelevant to his philosophy, some, including Georges Bataille, argue that the breakdown must be considered.

Much controversy surrounds whether Nietzsche advocated a single or comprehensive philosophical viewpoint. Many charge Nietzsche with propounding contradictory thoughts and ideas. Here are Nietzsche's main ideas.

After the skepticism in his early works towards the old foundations of philosophy, religion, and morality, Nietzsche experienced the absence of any meaning or purpose to the world and human existence. Nietzsche did not attribute this nihilism to an autonomous and reactive movement against culture; rather, he diagnosed nihilism as a latent presence within the very foundations of European culture, and thus, as a necessary and approaching destiny.

For Nietzsche, nihilism is the outcome of repeated frustrations in the search for meaning. The religious worldview had already suffered a number of challenges from contrary perspectives grounded in philosophical skepticism, modern science (heliocentrism superseding geocentrism, evolution superseding creationism), and internal disputes (Reformation). However, these attempts to replace God with human reason were also inadequate and unjustified.

In writings from notebooks dated from November 1887 to March 1888, Nietzsche described three steps by which 'nihilism as a psychological state' would be reached:

Nietzsche sees this intellectual condition as a new challenge to European culture, which has extended itself beyond a sort of point-of-no-return. Nietzsche conceptualizes this with the famous statement, 'God is dead', which appears prominently in The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, suggesting the impending, yet obscure, crisis that European thought faces in the wake of the irreparable disturbances to its traditional foundations. Nietzsche treats this phrase as more than a provocative declaration, but almost reverently, as it represents the potential of a nihilism that arrests growth and progress in the midst of an overwhelming absurdity and meaninglessness:

The first instance of the phrase occurs at the beginning of Book III of The Gay Science (section 108), and again prominently in section 125.

In response to the constraining and defeating aspects of nihilism, Nietzsche began to seek a sense of bold, cheerful experimentation. Nietzsche seems to identify his own self as the remaining constraint after the death of the Gods, writing that 'the seal of liberation' is 'no longer being ashamed in front of oneself.' (Gay Science, Book III, sec. 275, trans. Walter Kaufmann)

Nietzsche acknowledged that after having liberated himself from the Gods and their morality, he has yet to answer for what he is liberated: he suffers as a protagonist without an antagonist. At the beginning of Book IV of The Gay Science, Nietzsche celebrates the new year and the strength he attributes to the month of January. He writes that his 'wish' is:

This attitude of creativity and challenge carries Nietzsche further to the idea of 'the eternal recurrence', an intellectual and existential test. Eternal recurrence means that time runs its course and then repeats exactly and infinitely. Thus, the absurdities and pains of life must be endured not only once, but repeatedly and forever. Nietzsche imagines that the nihilist would find this thought torturous, but for one who has learned to be a 'Yes-sayer', it should be bliss. At the end of Book IV of The Gay Science, juxtaposed with what becomes the beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche writes:

The eternal recurrence is also discussed prominently in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which Nietzsche wrote after The Gay Science. And he gives strangely lucid consideration of the eternal recurrence in various sections in the collection of notes under the title of The Will to Power. Particularly interesting here is the idea that, towards the end of his life, Nietzsche seems to use the eternal recurrence as something to simply consign himself to the pointlessness of existence. He says 'Everything seems far too valuable to be so fleeting...My only consolation is...the sea will cast it up again' (Will to Power, section 1026. trans Walter Kaufmann). This can be thought of as one of the things that has fitted Nietzsche in to the category of existentialism. But furthermore, the ruminations on eternal recurrence in The Will to Power include some of Nietzsche's attempts to actually prove it as a cosmological thesis (see Arthur Danto, Nietzsche as Philosopher for a detailed analysis of these efforts). Interestingly, in his letters and notebooks, Nietzsche says that he thinks eternal recurrence may even disprove the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, but this is often glossed over as his insanity had at this point begun to set in.

There is some controversy over who or what Nietzsche considered an overman (or "superman"; in German, bermensch). Not only is there some basis to think that Nietzsche was skeptical about individual identity and the notion of subject, but there was never a concrete example of the overman.

Nietzsche coined the terms herd instinct or slave morality, which represents the kind of morality or ideology produced by a group of people, such as a culture or a society. The herd instinct is the inevitable consequence of society, and it is considered extremely difficult for an individual to take on a value or moral system apart from the society within which one is embedded.

The overman cannot be defined with respect to how much power one wields over others (although the overman, having overcome himself, will consequently dominate those who have not), but rather to the extent to which one is, in Nietzsche's words, "judge and avenger and victim of one's own law." This is in contrast to the Christian notion that humans are created beings whose purpose is to obey the dictates of their Creator.

Nietzsche never set out who was, or was not, an overman. Perhaps the overman is a state of human-being having bypassed himself (which could be said "post-human"). The overman was possibly an ideal or a theoretical construct designed to point out that it is difficult, if not impossible, to break free from society's ideological and moral grasp. As an intellectual exercise, contemporary thinkers have asked who or what could have been an overman. Could rulers such as Stalin or Hitler be overman? According to Nietzsche, this is most unlikely, given that rulers represent the moralities and ideologies of their time, as opposed to breaking free from them.

In his text on the "tyrants of democracy", Nietzsche opposed the covert artists overmen to the political leaders, which Nietzsche despised. A discussion of how Nietzsche relates to Hitler and the Nazis is below. Is the concept of the overman more limited to intellectual and artistic figures such as Goethe and Wagner? This seems more likely, especially given that Nietzsche held Wagner in very high esteem early in his life. However, he totally broke with him writing Nietzsche against Wagner (Wagner's antisemitism and germanism being one of the reasons of the rupture), and thus could certainly not considered him as the artist that he waited for.

Nietzsche's critique of the subject makes it impossible to reduce the "overman" or any other individual person to an individual subject, thus assimilating him as a kind of hero: "there is no doer behind the doing", wrote Nietzsche. We attribute a subject as a cause of the event, because we need this "grammatical fiction"; but in fact, there is no more subject than there is any substance, because both presuppose an eternally identical world, whereas world is always in a state of flux and change. There is no substance, there is no subject and there is no causality are Nietzsche's most radical thesis.

In his Nietzsche, Heidegger himself, although later rightly criticized for his membership in the NSDAP, criticized this more or less deliberate misunderstanding of Nietzsche's philosophy, based in a scientist conception and on a biological interpretation of Nietzsche's thought. Mazzino Montinari's edition of the posthumous fragments and philological criticisms of the fake Will to Power, as Gilles Deleuze's particular reading of Nietzsche, would be essential moments of the revealing of this caricature.

Nietzsche argued that there were two types of morality, a master morality that springs actively from the 'noble man' and a slave morality that develops reactively within the weak man. These two moralities are not simple inversions of one another, they are two different value systems; master morality fits actions into a scale of 'good' or 'bad' whereas slave morality fits actions into a scale of 'good' or 'evil'.

Nietzsche defined master morality as the morality of the strong-willed. For these men the 'good' is the noble, strong and powerful, while the 'bad' is the weak, cowardly, timid and petty. Master morality begins in the 'noble man' with a spontaneous idea of the 'good', then the idea of 'bad' develops in opposition to it. (On the Genealogy of Morals, First Essay, Section 11) He said: "The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, "what is harmful to me is harmful in itself"; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating." (Beyond Good and Evil)

Slave morality begins in those people who are weak, uncertain of themselves, oppressed and abused. The essence of slave morality is utility: the good is what is most useful for the community as a whole. Since the powerful are few in number compared to the masses of the weak, the weak gain power vis-a-vis the strong by treating those qualities that are valued by the powerful as "evil," and those qualities that enable sufferers to endure their lot as "good." Thus patience, humility, pity, submissiveness to authority, and the like, are considered good.

Slave morality begins in a ressentiment that turns creative and gives birth to values. (Ressentiment was a term coined by Nietzsche to describe the feeling of the weak, unhealthy and ugly towards those who have fared better in life.) The slave regards the virtues of beauty, power, strength and wealth as 'evil' in an act of revenge against those who have them in abundance. (On the Genealogy of Morals, First Essay, Section 10) Slave morality is therefore a reactionary morality because 'good' does not spring creatively from the individual but develops as a negation of the values of the powerful. The noble person conceives of goodness first and later determines what is 'bad' while the slave conceives of 'evil' first and fashions his own conception of 'good' in opposition to this.

One of the main themes in Nietzsche's work is that ancient Roman society was grounded in master morality, and that this morality disappeared as the slave morality of Christianity spread through ancient Rome. Nietzsche was concerned with the state of European culture during his lifetime and therefore focused much of his analysis on the history of master and slave morality within Europe. Occasional references, however, also suggest that he meant these terms to be applied to other societies.

However, as with so many ideas in Nietzsche's work, there is no material manifestation of this idea, no hard and fast difference between that which is created by the master morality and that created by the slave. While Nietzsche stated repeatedly that the master morality was necessary for the advancement of humanity (through overhuman - bermenschiese - deeds), he gave examples of where these advances were made through the use of the tenets of the slave morality. The second essay of On the Genealogy of Morals is an indication of this insight, as well as his longstanding fascination for Jesus. Mastery for Nietzsche was the creation of values, and a recurring theme (especially in Thus Spoke Zarathustra) is how even what might seem bad can be, must be, taken up into a masterful life. As Zarathustra says (in Part II, Manly Prudence): "he who lives amongst men must know how to wash himself with dirty water." Nietzsche gives a concise investigation of how any idea might be used masterfully in the ninth aphorism of Beyond Good on Evil, concerning Stoicism.

According to Nietzsche, the Cartesian proofs for the existence of God are all examples of logic only a master from the nobility would invent. Thomas Aquinas' notions of what constitutes the "good life" is a particular example of what "good" might mean to a master. Nietzsche claimed that such notions of the good life would have their root in the discipline and punishment Aquinas received as a child from the hands of his father.

In Nietzsche's book the Anti-Christ, Nietzsche fights against how Christianity has become an ideology set forth by institutions like churches, and how churches have failed to represent the life of Jesus. It is important, for Nietzsche, to distinguish between the religion of Christianity and the person of Jesus. Nietzsche attacked Christian religion as it was represented by churches and institutions for what he called its "transvaluation" of healthy instinctive values. Transvaluation is the process by which the meaning of a concept or ideology can be reversed to its opposite. He went beyond agnostic and atheistic thinkers of the Enlightenment, who felt that Christianity was simply untrue. He claimed that it may have been deliberately propagated as a subversive religion (a "psychological warfare weapon" or what some would call a "memetic virus") within the Roman Empire by the Apostle Paul as a form of covert revenge for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple during the Jewish War.

Nietzsche contrasts the Christians with Jesus, whom he greatly admires. Nietzsche argues that Jesus transcended the moral influences of his time by creating his own set of values. As such Jesus represents a step towards the overman. Ultimately, however, Nietzsche claims that, unlike the overman, who embraces life, Jesus denied reality in favor of his "kingdom of God," and that Jesus' refusal to defend himself, and subsequent death, were logical consequences of this total disengagement. Nietzsche then analyzes the history of Christianity, finding it to be a progressively grosser distortion of the teachings of Jesus. He criticizes the early Christians for turning Jesus into a martyr and Jesus' life into a story of the redemption of mankind in order to gain power over the masses, finding them to be cowardly, vulgar, and resentful. He argues that Christianity had become more and more corrupted, as successive generations further misunderstood the life of Jesus. By the 19th century, Nietzsche concludes, Christianity had become so worldly as to be a parody of itself--a total inversion of a worldview which was, in the beginning, nihilistic.

In 1894 (after Nietzsche's death), his sister Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche, founded the Nietzsche-Archiv in Naumburg, which she would later transfer to Weimar. The culmination of this organization was the publishing, in Leipzig between 1894 and 1926, of the Grooktavausgabe edition. It was first edited by C. G. Naumann, then by Krner. In these 20 volumes, Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche included part of Nietzsche's posthumous fragments, which she gathered together and entitled The Will To Power. With Peter Gast, she claimed that Nietzsche had died before completing his magnum opus, which he allegedly would have wanted to name "The Will to Power, in Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values". This compilation of Nietzsche's posthumous fragments, selected and ordered under his sister's authority, led to the book commonly known as The Will to Power. Until Colli & Montinari's edition, this would form the basis for all successive editions, including the 1922 Musarion edition, often commonly used to this day.

While researching materials for the Italian translation of Nietzsche's complete works in the 1960s, philologists Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari decided to go to the Archives in Leipzig to work with the original documents. From their work emerged the first complete and chronological edition of Nietzsche's posthumous fragments, which Frster-Nietzsche had cut up, mixed and paste together, according to her own antisemitic views (which were one of the reasons of the lack of understanding with her brother). The complete works make up 5 000 pages, compared to the 3 500 pages of the Grooktavausgabe. In 1964, during the International Colloque on Nietzsche in Paris, Colli & Montinari met Karl Lwith, who would put them in contact with Heinz Wenzel, editor for Walter de Gruyter's publishing house. Heinz Wenzel would buy the rights of the complete works of Colli & Montinari (33 volumes in German) after the French Gallimard edition and the Italian Adelphi editions.

Before Colli & Montinari's philological work, the previous editions led readers to believe that Nietzsche had organized all his work toward a final structured opus called The Will to Power. In fact, if Nietzsche did consider the eventuality of writing such a book, he changed plans before his collapse. The title of The Will to Power, which appears for the first time at the end of the summer of 1885, would be replaced by another plan at the end of August 1888. This new plan was title Project for an inversion of all values, and ordered the multiple fragments in a completely different way than the one chosen by Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche.

In fact, according to Montinari, the previous editions, which all depended of the Grooktavausgabe, were technically nonsense, as Nietzsche's fragments were cut up in various places and ordered according to his sister's will; and a case of revisionism, as it was left to his sister to artificially combine Nietzsche's fragments into an unified opus magnum (whose very concept is alien to Nietzsche's philosophy and style of writing), whose meaning was distorted according to Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche's anti-semitic and Germanist biases. Gilles Deleuze himself saluted Montinari's work declaring:

Furthermore, this critical philological work, a milestone in the Nietzsche studies, which proved case-by-case all the distortions accomplished by Nietzsche's sister on his posthume fragments, also put into question, which had already been done before, the possible cenceforonception of a Nietzschean magnum opus, given his style of writing and thinking. So The 'Will to Power' (as a book) may not have been written by Nietzsche. But the concept of Will to power in itself certainly is central in Nietzsche's philosophy, so much that Heidegger considered it to form, with the thought of the eternal recurrence, the basis of his thought. [3]

The concept of Will to power is a concept of Nietzsche's thought, which led to many interpretations, some of whom, such as the Nazi interpretation of it as a "will of power", were deliberate attempts of political instrumentation.

The Will to power must first of all thought taking into account Nietzsche's roots and violent critic of Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer posited a will to live, in which living things were motivated by sustaining and developing their own lives. Nietzsche instead posited a will to power, in which living things are not just driven by the mere need to stay alive, but in fact by a greater need to wield and use power, to dominate others, and to make them weaker. Thus, Nietzsche regarded such a will to live as secondary to the primary will to power. Henceforth, he opposed himself to social darwinism and plain darwinism, as he contested the validity of the concept of "adaptation", which he considered a simple and weak will to live [4].

One possible interpretation of "will to power" is that it is a process of expansion and venting of creative energy that he believed was the basic driving force of nature. This interpretation would suggest that he believed it to be the fundamental causal power in the world, the driving force of all natural phenomena and the dynamic to which all other causal powers could be reduced. Indeed, the will to power must not be understood in a psychological or subjective way, but rather in a "cosmic way". That is, according to this theory, Nietzsche in part hoped the will to power could be a "theory of everything," providing the ultimate foundations for explanations of everything from whole societies, to individual organisms, down to mere lumps of matter.

Nietzsche perhaps developed the will to power concept furthest with regard to living organisms, and it is there that the concept is perhaps easiest to understand. There, the will to power is taken as an animal's most fundamental instinct or drive, even more fundamental than the act of self-preservation; the latter is but an epiphenomenon of the former. According to Nietzsche, the will to power is the basic means through which living things "interpret" or interact with the world, and, in this sense, the world is "will to power, and nothing else besides,".

The will to power is something like the desire to exert one's will in self-overcoming, although this "willing" may be unconscious. Indeed, it is unconscious in all non-human beings; it was the frustration of this will that first caused man to become conscious at all. The philosopher and art critic Arthur C. Danto says that "aggression" is at least sometimes an approximate synonym. However, Nietzsche's ideas of aggression are almost always meant as aggression toward oneself, as the energy a person motivates toward self-mastery. In any case, since the will to power is fundamental, any other drives are to be reduced to it; the "will to survive" (i.e. the survival instinct) that biologists (at least in Nietzsche's day) thought to be fundamental, for example, was in this light a manifestation of the will to power.

Not just instincts but also higher level behaviors (even in humans) were to be reduced to the will to power. In fact, Nietzsche considered consciousness itself to be the a form of instinct. This includes both such apparently harmful acts as physical violence, lying, and domination, on one hand, and such apparently non-harmful acts as gift-giving, love, and praise on the other. In Beyond Good and Evil, he claims that philosophers' "will to truth" (i.e., their apparent desire to dispassionately seek objective truth) is actually nothing more than a manifestation of their will to power; this will can be life-affirming or a manifestation of nihilism, but it is will to power all the same.

As indicated above, the will to power is meant to explain more than just the behavior of an individual person or animal. It is not psychological, nor intentional or subjective.

It should be noted, however, that a biological interpretation of Will to Power such as this is but one of many possible - indeed, Nietzsche scholarship is replete with interpretations, largely due to Nietzsche's elusive style. Others might suggest that the will to power is not really as central a concept in Nietzsche's thought. Indeed, it appears that Nietzsche himself might have agreed, when he suggests, in Ecce Homo, that his notion of eternal recurrence of the same is his most central thought, and the central theme of his most famous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. However, Heidegger, and also Deleuze, would argue that both concepts, the will to power and the thought of the eternal recurrence, were to be thought together.

Nietzsche is unique among philosophers for what is widely regarded as the remarkable power and effectiveness of his prose style - particularly as manifested in Zarathustra. The indigestible 'heaviness' long associated with German-language philosophy is eschewed, with puns and paradoxes abounding, and aphoristic brevity rubbing shoulders with parable and even poem in his rhetoric. The end result is a manner of philosophical writing which, being "pitched half-way between metaphor and literal statement" is "something quite extraordinary" (J.P. Stern).

His work has been described as 'half philosophic, half poetic'; the fact that it can thus manage to convince the reader emotionally as well as intellectually is no doubt one reason for its appeal (especially among creative artists) - but it also means that the theory behind the metaphors is never fully or clearly written out.

One problem inevitably caused by this is that the boundaries of his thinking are not easily discerned: for example, many people not only feel that Nietzsche's term bermensch conjures up the 'pure Aryan' of Hitlerian mythology, but further assume that it must have been accompanied by the complementary lesser human or sub-human 'Untermensch' - whereas this latter term is in fact a creation of Nazi racial ideology.

Another vulnerability entailed by Nietzsche's style is that nuances and shades of meaning are very easily lost - and all too easily gained - in translation. Here the bermensch is a case in point: the equivalent 'Superman' found in dictionaries and in the translations by Thomas Common and R.J. Hollingdale may create an unfortunate association with the heroic comic-character 'Superman' - while other logical alternatives which one might propose ('Over-human?' 'Above-human?' 'Super-human?' 'Beyond-human?') are either uselessly clumsy or smack of a 'political correctness' foreign to Nietzsche's outlook. Walter Kaufmann's 'Overman' would perhaps be more serviceable - were it not for the overtone of hierarchical authoritarianism which it introduces. A little used alternative is 'Hyper-man.' It is as precisely Greek (which Nietzsche knew quite well) as 'Superman,' without the pop-political connotations.

Regardless of the translation, it is illuminating to think of 'ber' in relationship to the development of the individual subject. The bermensch is the being that overcomes the "great nausea" associated with nihilism; that overcomes that most "abysmal" realization of the eternal return. He is the being that "sails over morality," and that dances over gravity (the "spirit of gravity" is Zarathustra's devil and archenemy). He is a "harvester" and a "celebrant" who endlessly affirms his existence, thereby becoming the transfigurer of his consciousness. He is initially a destructive force, excising and annihilating the insidious 'truths' of the herd, and consequently reclaiming the chaos from which pure creativity is born. It is this creative existence that justifies suffering without displacing it in some "afterworld." He is the lightning that brings the frenzy of religious ecstasy to earth -- complete with suffering and birth pangs.

Nietzsche's work addresses ethics from several perspectives; in today's terms, we might say his remarks pertain to meta-ethics, normative ethics, and descriptive ethics.

As far as meta-ethics is concerned, Nietzsche can perhaps most usefully be classified as a moral skeptic; that is, he claims that all ethical statements are false, because any kind of correspondence between ethical statements and "moral facts" is illusory. (This is part of a more general claim that there is no universally true fact, roughly because none of them more than "appear" to correspond to reality). Instead, ethical statements (like all statements) are mere "interpretations."

Sometimes, Nietzsche may seem to have very definite opinions on what is moral or immoral. Note, however, that Nietzsche's moral opinions may be explained without attributing to him the claim that they are "true." For Nietzsche, after all, we needn't disregard a statement merely because it is false. On the contrary, he often claims that falsehood is essential for "life." Interestingly enough, he mentions a 'dishonest lie,' discussing Wagner in The Case of Wagner, as opposed to an 'honest' one, saying further, to consult Plato with regards to the latter, which should give some idea of the layers of paradox in his work.

In the juncture between normative ethics and descriptive ethics, Nietzsche distinguishes between "master morality" and "slave morality." Although he recognises that not everyone holds either scheme in a clearly delineated fashion without some syncretism, he presents them in contrast to one another. Some of the contrasts in master vs. slave morality:

These ideas were elaborated in his book On the Genealogy of Morals in which he also introduced the key concept of ressentiment as the basis for the slave morality.

Nietzsche's assessment of both the antiquity and resultant impediments presented by the ethical and moralistic teachings of the world's monotheistic religions eventually led him to his own epiphany about the nature of God and morality, resulting in his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Nietzsche is also well-known for the statement "God is dead". While in popular belief it is Nietzsche himself who blatantly made this declaration, it was actually placed into the mouth of a character, a "madman," in The Gay Science. It was also later proclaimed by Nietzsche's Zarathustra. This largely misunderstood statement does not proclaim a physical death, but a natural end to the belief in God being the foundation of the western mind. It is also widely misunderstood as a kind of gloating declaration, when it is actually described as a tragic lament by the character Zarathustra.

"God is Dead" is more of an observation than a declaration, and it is noteworthy that Nietzsche never felt the need to advance any arguments for atheism, but merely observed that, for all practical purposes, his contemporaries lived "as if" God were dead. Nietzsche believed this "death" would eventually undermine the foundations of morality and lead to moral relativism and moral nihilism. To avoid this, he believed in re-evaluating the foundations of morality and placing them not on a pre-determined, but a natural foundation through comparative analysis.

During the First World War and after 1945, many regarded Nietzsche as having helped to cause the German militarism. In fact, the German right-wing did not appreciate Nietzsche's thought until the rise of the Nazis. Nietzsche was popular among left-wing Germans in the 1890s. Many Germans read Thus Spoke Zarathustra and were influenced by Nietzsche's appeal of unlimited individualism and the development of a personality. The enormous popularity of Nietzsche led to the subversion debate in German politics in 1894/1895. Conservatives wanted to ban the work of Nietzsche. Nietzsche influenced the Social-democratic revisionists, anarchists, feminists and the left-wing German youth movement.

During the interbellum, various fragments of Nietzsche's work were appropriated by National Socialists, notably Alfred Bumler in his reading of The Will to Power. During the period of Nazi rule, Nietzsche's work was widely studied in German (and, after 1938, Austrian) schools and universities. The Nazis viewed Nietzsche as one of their "founding fathers." They incorporated much of his ideology and thoughts about power into their own political philosophy (without consideration to its contextual meaning). Although there exist some significant differences between Nietzsche and Nazism, his ideas of power, weakness, women, and religion became axioms of Nazi society. The wide popularity of Nietzsche among Nazis was due partly to Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Frster-Nietzsche, a Nazi sympathizer who edited much of Nietzsche's works. However, Nietzsche disapproved of his sister's antisemitic views. Furthermore, Mazzino Montinari, one of editors of Nietzsche's posthumous works in the 1960s, argued that Frster-Nietzsche had deliberately cut extracts, changed their order, and added false titles to the posthumous fragments, thus constituting the fake Will to power [1].

It is worth noting that Nietzsche's thought largely stands opposed to Nazism, its apology of Germanism, its nationalism and its antisemitism. However, Nietzsche did spoke of a "big politic", considered as a "European politics", which understanding has remained quite obscure. He also made several references to eugenics, which were at that time - as racism - common ideologies [5].

In particular, Nietzsche despised anti-Semitism and held a very high opinion of European Jewry. While some of his writings on "the Jewish question" were critical of the Jewish population in Europe, this criticism was equally, if not more strongly, applied to the English, the Germans, and the rest of Europe. However, he also praised the strength of the Jewish people. For instance, in Beyond Good and Evil, he wrote: "The Jews, however, are beyond any doubt the strongest, toughest, and purest race now living in Europe; they know how to prevail even under the worst conditions..." However, his venomous attack upon many of the religious principles of the Jews throughout his work brings confusion to many readers. This ambiguity is perhaps best expressed in part 250 of Beyond Good and Evil:

He also despised nationalism. He took a dim view of German culture as it was in his time, and derided both the state and populism (however, he valorised strong leadership, and it was this last tendency that the Nazis took up) (see Nietzsche against Wagner). As the joke goes: "Nietzsche detested Nationalism, Socialism, Germans and mass movements, so naturally he was adopted as the intellectual mascot of the National Socialist German Workers' Party." He was also far from being a racist, believing that the "vigour" of any population could only be increased by mixing with others. In The Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche says, "...the concept of 'pure blood' is the opposite of a harmless concept." Furthermore, in Ecce Homo Nietzsche claims Polish descent - even aristocratic Polish ancestry - a claim for which there is no evidence. This is most probably another satyrical attack on the rising German nationalism - like the Poles who had no nation-state (see The Partition of Poland)and through his claim he suggests that he would rather associate with a stateless people (Nietzsche was himself stateless since moving to Basel) than join the 'herdish' nationalism of the German unification. Through his claim he also takes attention away from his given names (after Frederick William II of Prussia) to his surname, which carries no such grandeur - he does not want to be judged as a German. Ultimately the claim is a dissassociation of nationalism.

As for the idea of the "blond beast," Walter Kaufmann has this to say in The Will to Power: "The 'blond beast' is not a racial concept and does not refer to the 'Nordic race' of which the Nazis later made so much. Nietzsche specifically refers to Arabs and Japanese, Romans and Greeks, no less than ancient Teutonic tribes when he first introduces the term... and the 'blondness' obviously refers to the beast, the lion, rather than the kind of man."

While his thought shares little with Nazism, it should not be supposed that he was strongly liberal either. One of the things that he seems to have detested the most about Christianity was its emphasis on pity and how this leads to the elevation of the weak-minded. Nietzsche believed that it was wrong to deprive people of their pain, because it was this very pain that stirred them to improve themselves, to grow and become stronger. It would overstate the matter to say that he disbelieved in helping people; but he was persuaded that much Christian pity robbed people of necessary painful life experiences, and robbing a person of his necessary pain, for Nietzsche, was wrong. He once noted in his Ecce Homo: "pain is not an objection to life."

Nietzsche often referred to the common people who participated in mass movements and shared a common mass psychology as "the rabble", and "the herd." He valued individualism above all else, although his understanding of it was quite different from the classical liberal conception of the individual subject (See above). While he had a dislike of the state in general, he also spoke negatively of anarchists and made it clear that only certain individuals should attempt to break away from the herd mentality. This theme is common throughout Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

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Friedrich Nietzsche was an influential German philosopher, widely known for his unconventional ideas about morality and religion.

Although his ideas were controversial among the traditional thinkers, he showed people the true nature of life and how individuals can shape their future with independent thought. No matter how young, rich, or happy you are, Friedrich Nietzsches philosophy will have a lasting impact on your mind.

Here are the 21 greatestFriedrich Nietzsche quotes to change your life for the better:

If you think life is hard, keep going. Dont seek an easy life, seek strength. Friedrich Nietzsches philosophy often stresses the fact that one must be fearless, take risks, and face adversities to get the fruits of life. Because theres no greatness without pain and sacrifice.

To fight terrorism, soldiers have to become ruthless themselves. Similarly, if you face adversity in life, make sure it doesnt make you heartless and cold, unable to show kindness toward the weak.

If you have an incredibly meaningful purpose, you wont give up no matter how tough it gets. Purpose gives us meaning and stirs our emotions. And when our emotions are stirred, we have endless energy. Among allFriedrichNietzsche quotes, this one stands apart.

Individuals often know how life works and what the truth really is. But tragedy happens when a large number of people believe the lies. For example, a large number of people buy products sold by corporations that have no regard for the health of their customers.

5. Howlittleittakestomake us happy! Thesoundof abagpipe.Without music, life wouldbe amistake. The German even imagines Godassinging songs.

People often chase money and things, when all it takes to be happy is music and a good company. Its not bad to be materialistic, but its bad to use it as the only way to happiness.

6. One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

Everyone has fears, doubts, and anxieties. But it is out of the same darkness that they create something new and extraordinary. So dont hate your darkness, accept it, and work with it.

7. You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

There is no golden way to success. Something may work for your friend, but not for you. You need to learn from your mistakes and trust your gut, to create your own path. This is one of the greatest Friedrich Nietzsche quotes as it shows that there is no secret ingredient to success.

8. There are no facts, only interpretations.

You dont need to know the big truths of life, but you need to know the truths that apply to you. It is important to learn about life from our own perspective and know that theres nothing as the absolute truth.

9. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

If you cannot expand your mind and listen to people who think differently from you, youll never grow. Its important to listen to new opinions and take new experiences so that we can become better.

People often become unrealistic in love, conjuring dreamy scenarios of romance in their minds. But at the same time, everyone loves the same madness no matter how silly it seems. This is one of the bestFriedrich Nietzsche quotes, because it shows how important craziness is if you want to feel the beauty of love.

Keeping firm opinion about something means that you arent willing to change and expand. But change is the nature of life, so always question things and expect them to change over time.

In life, some people will love your work and your creativity, and others will hate it. Just because some cant see your light doesnt mean you should stop shining.

Safety is the biggest illusion sold by people who never lived it in the first place. You need to take risks and get out of your shell to live an extraordinary life. Meet new people, travel to new places, try new and bizarre ideas in your work, relationships, and physique because its an absolute pleasure to create something entirely new.

A thought is like the tip of the iceberg. If you want to see the truth, dig deeper. Your emotions reveal much more than thoughts, they form your life experiences and give meaning to them.

Everybody wants to find the magic pill for success. The truth is that it doesnt exist. You need to build your own path by making mistakes and relying on your intuition.

Learn how to control your mind and discipline yourself, or the world will do it for you. There are plenty of people who have great talents but turn out average because they dont have the determination to create something great.

Humans were never made to sit all day and use technology. Scientific research has revealed that walking improves human creativity by 60 percent[1]. Friedrich Nietzsches philosophy reveals the true nature of how our mind works, so walk more and youll have a great mind.

Dont sell your soul by doing the work you hate for someone else. Own yourself and do what you have always wanted to do, because you live only once. Among allFriedrich Nietzsche quotes, this one really stands out as it shows nothing is worth selling your own dreams.

You can only help a person who wants to be helped. People often avoid truths because they dont want to leave their comfort zone. But if you never face the truth, how will you ever overcome adversity and win over your fears?

Dont be scared if life has been knocking you down. You just need to think right, speak right, and do right. Research done by Robert Cialdini, a psychology professor, shows that if you change your behavior, you also change how you feel. So, to feel unafraid, do what a brave person would do. The core idea is: act and you will become.

You must be willing to look at your problems, your fears, your darkness; to rise above them and become stronger. If you just keep staring at problems and keep feeling bad, you will reach nowhere. This is one of the greatestFriedrich Nietzsche quotes as it shows us that problems are not inherently bad, it is your attitude that makes them bad.

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Reminder: the preferred use of EvolDir is for bulletins notdiscussions (for the latter see the USENET/Google groups).

DarwinianEvolution of Molecules: Physical and Earth-Historical Perspective ofthe Origin of Life by Hiromoto Nakazawafrom Springer(May 20).

Veterinary company looking to hire StatisticalGenomicists. (May 18).

A special issue of GENES will be prepared on cytonuclearinteractions in polyploid organisms. Manuscript deadline September30th.(May 13).

TheOrigin of Snakes: Morphology and the Fossil Recordby Michael Wayne Caldwell from CRC Press(May 11).

The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25Discoveries: Amazing Fossils and the People WhoFound Themby Donald R. Prothero from Columbia University Press(May 4).

TheWiley Handbook of Evolutionary Neuroscienceed. by Stephen V Shepherd fromWiley Blackwell(Apr 28).

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Mindfulness

What is it? Continuous, clear awareness of the present moment. Always returning, whether from an enjoyable fantasy, an emotional outburst or a melancholy remembrance; always returning to this moment. Being fully here, present-moment after present-moment. This is mindfulness. Its not about having your mind-full of something, its actually the opposite its the setting aside of your mental and emotional baggage, resulting in a clarity and a fluidity that lets thoughts, feelings and perceptions flow smoothly through your awareness without sticking.

How do we get it? Mindfulness is something you do rather than get. But, as you find as soon as you start trying, it can be quite difficult to simply pay attention to what is happening right in front of you. If youre like most people, youve trained yourself over many years to spend your energy following your inner narratives. So, as soon as youve set your awareness on something, it bounces away to interpretations, speculations and projections, and often ends up in a swirl of emotion. To change this you have to re-train your mind.

3 steps

The Three Step method is a roadmap to the mindful life. Rooted in Zen Buddhism, its new approach begins with viewing our states of mind as physical places that we visit. We explore the landscape of each one and discover its main characteristics so that we can pinpoint our position on the roadmap at any time. As we do this we learn to move between these mindstates at will. Ultimately we see how to integrate and balance these states, moving from one to the other to live our life in a dynamic way directly inspired by the living moment rather than being unconsciously driven by our fears, worries and fantasies. When were emotionally overwhelmed, well recognize that were in that place and know which mind-state to move to in order to regain equanimity. When we need to take resolute action, well know which state is best suited to the task. The end result is a self-perpetuating mindfulness: when practicing the techniques the mind becomes calm and clear, which in turn makes the process itself more effective.

How can I learn it?

The Three Steps to Mindfulness method is now available online as the third section of the Zen Mindfulness Cloudbook.

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